Kindred Spirit
by Avalon-blackandgreen
Summary: In order to keep the Underground from falling apart and dying, Jareth must find a young dreamer who he and his kingdom can live within. Ally maybe be that dreamer. NOT Jarethoc! Rated M for possible language latter on.
1. Prologue

A/N: Yeah, I know, it's been a long time since I've done anything on I wonder if anyone still remembers me? So yeah, another Labyrinth fanfiction. I'm not sure if it'll be Jareth/Sarah or not. I know, blasphemy! I am still true to the Jareth/Sarah pairing, they are still the most amazing couple ever in my mind, haha, but for what I want to do in this fic, I think I need them to be apart. Anyway, enough blabber.

Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth, it belongs to the Jim Henson company. I make no profit off this work.

**KINDRED SPIRTIT: PROLOGUE**

"Damn," Jareth collapsed on his bed. He was far more drained than even he had anticipated.

The ancient bonds of his kingdom were breaking a little more everyday, human children were no longer believing in the fairy tale worlds, and as a result, they were falling apart. To keep everything in the Underground thriving, he had to bond his entire kingdom, his very soul, to the soul of a young believer, someone who would always have enough faith. Faith in the labyrinth, faith in it's creatures, and faith in him.

He had desperately hoped that the woman he loved, Sarah, would be that person. Sarah would keep her friends and the pieces of the labyrinth she had encountered alive, but he had seen it in her eyes as she spoke her parting words, there was no room in her heart for a man like Jareth. She could never keep within her the soul of a man who she could not understand.

It was a painful thing to realize, to know that she would not love him, could not even keep him safe. It was a pain he would have to deal with another time though. The need for this young dreamer was urgent. The moment Jareth recuperated enough, he'd have to search the human world for a girl who he could live within.


	2. Chapter one

**Kindred Spirit: Chapter One**

"How could he break up with me? I love him, I'd do anything for him. You know, I even intended to give him the greatest gift I have to give!" She was sitting with her back against the wall and sobbing.

"At least you didn't do that and then have this happen," her friend said.

"It belongs to him, even if I still have it."

"Did you ask why Ally?"

"He said it's because he could never love me back, but how can that be true? He's my true love, I'm sure he could learn to love me." Ally ignored her red-brown hair getting in her face.

Her friend, Kristin, hugged her. "That really sucks Ally, but you're going to live through it. You're going to be ok, I promise."

"That's an awful big promise that you can't keep." 

"I'm sorry I can't seem to say the right thing," Kristin let go of Ally and sat back. "Come on, you came with me this morning, so at least you don't have to drive."

Ally didn't respond, she just kept crying.

"Look, I know you need to cry right now, but won't it be better crying in the car instead of here, outside the biology room, with so many people walking by?"

A group of three students, one male and two females, stopped. It was a worried group of Ally and Kristin's friends.

"Ally, what's wrong?" the taller of the two girls with light brown hair asked.

Kristin tossed back her curly hair, looked up and replied for Ally, "Jackson broke up with her."

"For real? Just out of the blue like that?" the same girl, Ella, looked dumbfounded.

"I thought things were great with you two," the shorter black haired girl, Kara, said.

"Things were just too good to be true. He's perfect, but apparently isn't meant to be mine," Ally said without picking her head up off its place on her knees. "I should have know that the fates are bitches."

"Ally, it's ok. You remember, I was messed up all summer over Janie," Mac said. He knelt down and hugged her.

"Mac, the tears don't stop even then, do they?"

"It still hurts, but trust me, you'll be able go through life relatively happy if you let yourself."

"How do I do that?"

"We're all here to help you. You don't have to figure it out alone," Kristin said.

"We hate seeing you like this. Do you want us to beat him up? Would that help you feel better?" Kara asked.

"No! I don't want him to be hurt, I couldn't stand that," Ally looked up with terror at the thought.

"Oh, I'm sorry for suggesting it," Kara fidgeted.

"I just snapped at you didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did, it's pretty scary Ally. I understand though," Kara said.

Ella came over an placed a hand on Ally's knee. "Look, whatever you do need, even if it's just a shoulder to cry on, we're her for you. I know you can call me anytime you need to."

"Thanks, but what I need is Jackson, and no one can get me that."

"Ally, come one, let's get you home. You can crawl into you bed and have a nice soft place to do this." Kristin offered Ally a hand up.

"Ok," she said. Ally seemed shaky on her legs, like she'd been to sea for a few days. "Home could be good."

"At least it's a long weekend and you don't have to see him for four days," Kara said.

"Don't remind me of that," Ally mumbled. "Bye bye." She gave her friends a weak wave as Kristin supported her on the way towards the school parking lot.

Ally's parents weren't home yet when they arrived, they were both still at work. Kristin almost had to carry Ally through the house to her room. She sat the broken girl down on the bed. "Are you going to be alright? Do you want me to stay with you for a while? I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind."

"No, you go. I'd only make you feel terrible."

"Ally, you know I'm not like that."

"Well, I'd feel like I was making you feel awkward, so I'd feel even more terrible. So you can go," Ally said.

"Alright, if that's what you want. Call me if you feel like you need to or want to. Or call anyone, we all care about you." Kristin walked to the doorway, "Bye, I hope you get better sooner rather than later."

When Kristin left, Ally kicked off her sandals and crawled under her big purple comforter. She found it a little ironic that it was called a comforter, but she didn't really feel comforted at all, she felt small and distant.

She had managed to stop crying mostly in the car, but now, the tears welled back up to the breaking point. She had an image of her entire bed soaked in tears, and while she would laugh at that on a normal day, it instead made her cry more.

"If only I knew what to do with myself now. What's going to happen from here?"


	3. Chapter two

**Kindred Spirit: Chapter Two**

He had sensed her the moment it had happened to her. Jareth could hear her pure heart breaking. "She must have some pre-existing connection to this world, to my very own kingdom, for me to be able to find her so easily," he thought as he watched her lying in her bed crying.

Ally. Ally was her name, and she could very well be his answer. This girl, so broken over the loss of true love, something Jareth was too familiar with himself, could be the very dreamer to save him. It was the very fact that they had such emotions in common that he could quite easily bond his soul and his kingdom to her. First, he had to find a way to make sure she was strong enough.

"How do I do it? What do I need to do to get her to accept all of this?" he spoke aloud in his throne room.

"Well yer majesty," Hoggle said, "yous could start by sending her the book."

"That book?" Jareth snapped, outraged to hear such a response. "That book ruined me. There should be a better book about this kingdom."

"But there ain't."

"Shut up Higgle, I know that."

"Hoggle," he rolled his eyes.

"Besides, that book also belongs to a certain young woman now," Jareth said.

"There's two more copies in the royal library."

"Fine. Go get it then Higgens," Jareth frowned.

"That's a sudden change of mind, yer majesty," Hoggle said.

"What other choices do I have? Just get the damn book!"

Hoggle scurried off, he may have moments of boldness, but he was still afraid of Jareth. Jareth took comfort in that. It was something that was more of a constant, something in his life he could control.

Jareth had never been a sweet person, but as his kingdom, his control over his kingdom, and even himself had begun to fade away, he got worse and worse with his anger and nasty disposition. Even he knew it, and it made him madder that he couldn't control that either.

He stood up and kicked a goblin off the steps to his throne. "If one of you useless dolts has a memory longer than five minutes, tell that Hegg-thing to come to my chambers with that book," he yelled. With that, Jareth stormed off down the hall.

His boots clicked in a furious pattern on the stones of the floor. In his head he started timing it, like someone marching in a band. Left, right, left, right. That chorus of left right slowly faded into the back of his mind and an actual train of thought began.

It was that book, that damned book that had cursed him. It was that book that taught Sarah not to love him, to say the words and leave. It taught her how to break his heart in the swiftest, most effective manner. Was it possible, that with Ally, the book would doom his cause again? It was supposed to just introduce her to the ideas of his world, but could it cause another failure? He couldn't afford that, he had so little time left, even in a world where the clocks run to thirteen. He needed a plan, a solid plan.

Maybe if he went to her, soon after she read the book. If he kept coming to her, showed her he'd do no harm. They could perhaps even build a friendship, if he himself was even still capable of making and marinating one. It would make both their live easier, because they'd have to deal with one another if they were bonded together.

Jareth burst into his room. The fire place flared to life suddenly, and a chair moved itself into a perfect spot. It never go very cold in his piece of the Underground, but the castle was prone to drafts. He sat in front of the fire. Even though it was warm, he shivered. He couldn't fade away, wouldn't fade away. It was just something he couldn't let happen. So long he'd felt immortal, for as long as he was believed in, he was always real. Those nasty humans were tainting their children with senses of reality at younger and younger ages. It seemed only certain gods were allowed to live now. All of ancient myth, which had been real at some point in time, was dying out. But where there is one believer, there is a glimmer of life.

If that one believer is strong enough, is a true dreamer, then they can keep a myth alive. This is what he hoped, needed for Ally to be. His dreamer, his life source, his very own deity to grant him power.

"Majesty, ere's the book," Hoggle called from the doorway.

Jareth jumped a little. "Bring it here, quickly. Good now leave." He watched the dwarf hobble out, then conjured a crystal and looked in to Ally's room. She was sleeping, but was not at rest. With magic, he placed the book on her desk. It was neatly framed by school books and art supplies, she would see it, he'd make sure of it.

A/N: I normally do quirky little author's notes on my fics, but for this one, I can't think of anything to say about it that isn't taking away from the fun of individual interpretation. So I think, that if the story keeps this same tone, which I hope it will, that I won't be doing author's notes anymore. Thanks for reading, and please tell me what you think.


	4. Chapter three

A/N: Well, I know it's been pretty much forever, lol. Life can get in the way, and muses can go on vacation. I hope those of you that were reading will find this again. I'm sorry, I don't know when my next update after this will be, but I'll try my hardest to keep working on this story.

Disclaimer: This humble...and terribly infrequent, but seeking to be better, fanfiction author does not own anything at all really, most certianly not something as amazing as Labyrinth, wich does belong to the Jim Henson Company.

**Kindred Spirit: Chapter Three**

Ally woke up in a new fit of tears. She'd dreamed that she was a damsel in distress and the shining armored knight Jackson had rescued her. How could she possibly ever sleep again knowing she was going to have dreams like that? Then again, maybe she should sleep more often. Maybe she should fall into a coma and never wake up again.

She shut her eyes again, and found only seconds later that she could not keep them shut. She sighed, a long mournful sound. On her side, the comforter snug up to her chin, she stared at her desk. Specifically, her reflection in the mirror she'd had her dad hang above the desk.

_Pitiful_, she though,_ absolutely the way I had hoped I'd never find myself. Yet life, damned thing that it is, has shown it had a different plan. Just look at those puffy eyes. How beastly. _More tears began to form in her eyes, but she registered something out of the corner of her eye. A red blur.

It was a small red, leather-bound book, she found upon sitting up and brushing off escaped tears. "I've never seen that before," she whispered to herself, finding she needed the company of her own voice. "Did Kristin leave it?" She sat there, weighing the option of getting out of bed to get the book against just rolling over and ignoring it.

She tried the second option, but soon found she couldn't get comfortable. That book was calling out to her curiosity. In a flourish of exasperation and unwillingness, she threw back the comforter, let her feet land on the floor, and stood.

Pausing for a moment, Ally took in the sudden sensation of standing. It felt a lot like being miserable in bed, but with a lot more work for her leg muscles. It also felt like teetering, far above nothing, much scarier than any drop down the Grand Canyon looked. She was so frightened she couldn't move, if she so much as breathed too hard, she'd fall.

Just as she decided that perhaps perpetual terror was better than perpetual heart break, and moved, her foot hit carpet again. That was right, it was merely her room, not the hole in the Earth come to swallow her pain. She took the book off the corner of her desk, and immediately returned to her bed, making sure to swath herself in the comforter before even considering the book again.

She ran a finger over the gold title, _The Labyrinth_. "Hm…" She opened the cover delicately, for reasons she didn't know, but the book seemed almost, precious.

Once upon a time, there was a princess, her name was Sarah, and she was a beautiful girl. Her mother had died, and her father remarried, and now she was frequently left to take care of the young prince this new wife had mothered. "Seems like a king and queen could afford a caretaker," Ally snorted. What no one knew, was that the Goblin King had fallen in love with Princess Sarah, and given her certain powers. "Romance? I might puke, or cry…" but she kept reading, because she was already taken into the spell of the story.

Jareth watched as Ally read _The Labyrinth_. He had never changed a single work in the book, the heroine's name had always been Sarah, and it was only coincidence that he had fallen in love with Sarah Williams. Then again, it was probably fate.

He didn't allow himself to be pleased with how consumed the girl seemed with the book. Real hope could only be allowed after he began to visit her. The first of which visits would be tomorrow. There wasn't time to lose, especially as he began to feel that she was strongly imagining his world. It was a breath of fresh magic, just a tiny bit of strength trying to return to his kingdom.

Ally frequently made comments on the story, at one point even calling out. "Damnit Sarah! Don't you see he loves you. You can't just ignore that entirely!"

At this, Jareth couldn't keep the corners of his lips from curling upward. "My sentiment exactly, dear Ally."

She closed the book and sighed. "Most unsatisfactory ending ever. Kind of like my life."

_We will both have to find another arrangement that might be at least pleasant,_ Jareth thought.


End file.
